Israel has finally had enough and banned from entering the country foreign groups that support the anti-Israel BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) including the Obama-Hamas terrorist allied American group Code Pink.

Code Pink was one of six US groups banned. Others are: AFSC (American Friends Service Committee), AMP (American Muslims for Palestine), JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace), NSJP (National Students for Justice in Palestine) and
USCPR (U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights).

Other groups from Europe and around the world that are now banned from Israel: AFPS (France-Palestine Solidarity Association), BDS France, BDS Italy, ECCP (The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine), FOA (Friends of al-Aqsa), IPSC (Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign), Norge Palestinakomitee (The Palestine Committee of Norway), Palestinagrupperna i Sverige (PGS-Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden), PSC (Palestine Solidarity Campaign), War on Want and BDS Kampagne; BDS Chile, BDS South Africa and BDS National Committee.

The Washington Post, which reported the list, simply described Code Pink as “run by Jewish activists” (partly true) and failed to mention Code Pink’s support for the terrorist group Hamas that wages war on Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Code Pink is fuming about being banned, posting a statement and numerous tweets on Sunday. The group, whose co-leader Jodie Evans was a major donor and fundraiser for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, appealed to two prominent Jewish Democrat senators, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Ben Cardin of Maryland.

In June 2009 Code Pink made a trip to Hamas-controlled Gaza. According to reports by two participants, Code Pink had such a close relationship with Hamas that the terrorists literally rolled out the red carpet for Code Pink and that a Code Pink leader wore a Hamas hat at a meeting with Hamas.

This warm welcome extended right up to the representatives of the Hamas government we interacted with, who treated us like diplomats–which, in a certain sense, we were, since no one from the U.S. government is currently taking up that role.

“At the end of our over-scheduled first full day in Gaza, we were greeted with a hasty announcement: “Freshen up, we’re going to parliament!”

“In the courtyard of the bombed-out Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) building, under a huge white UNICEF tent, our grubby, sweaty and tired delegation received the closest thing Gaza has to an official state welcome, including greetings from Ahmad Bahar, the acting head of the PLC.

“Now, whatever your opinion of Hamas, could you imagine the speaker of parliament in any other country in the world taking time out of his or her schedule to roll out the red carpet (literally!) for a scruffy bunch of antiwar activists?

“But if a red carpet welcome from Hamas–for our delegation of mostly women, led by Medea Benjamin, an American Jew–was not what many of us expected, it was nothing compared to the next night, when three Hamas MPs came back to our hotel to spend an hour and a half with us discussing politics, covering everything from the legitimacy of armed resistance under international law, to the Hamas-Fatah rift, to one-state versus two-state solutions.”

Another participant, Linda Todd, wrote up the June 2009 Code Pink trip in an article published at IsraellyCool last month. Todd reported that a Code Pink leader donned a “Hamas cap” at their meeting with Hamas. She says she was uneasy at how close Code Pink was with Hamas:

One of our first stops after entering the Gaza Strip was to attend a Meet & Greet with local officials. I was very surprised to find that this meant that we were meeting with Hamas. This didn’t make sense to me. I felt that perhaps this was just a formality to be polite, but the green Hamas caps donned by one of the Code Pink group leaders suggested a warmer relationship.”

Todd also added some personal observations of life in Gaza under Hamas:

I had a great time there for those three weeks, but I could feel an almost palpable, heavy presence in the air. There was so much destruction left over from Operation Cast Lead. I couldn’t believe that after so long, there was still so much rubble lying around. It was depressing.

“I was told it was because Israel doesn’t allow building supplies. Fine, but why no clean up? Every question I asked had an answer – and the answers were always about what Israel was withholding.

“Later, much later, when I saw pictures of the concrete lined tunnels burrowing towards Israel, I couldn’t help but remember those crumbled buildings and wonder if the concrete could have been put to better use.

“There were Hamas officers on almost every major intersection, and at many smaller intersections too. They scrutinized every passing car, stopping whoever they chose to question. I was always advised not to look at them, so as not to draw attention to us.

“I thought that was odd. I had heard so much about the oppressive Israeli checkpoints throughout Gaza, and never expected to find similar Hamas installations once Israel had pulled out.”

Several times in her article Todd questions Code Pink’s close relationship with the terror group Hamas:

This was not what I was expecting. Why were Code Pink so friendly with these oppressors? One thing that had drawn me to Code Pink was their apparent rejection of oppression and war, yet I could see this regime certainly qualified as being oppressive.”

“It is tragic to me that this Hamas, who obviously oppresses anyone who dares to disagree with them, would find such friendship in Code Pink or other such activists who claim to be struggling for peace.”

…CODEPINK takes pride in being recognized as a staunch defender of Palestinian human rights alongside the other five US organizations (19 worldwide) that have also been banned.

Our response to the ban will be to increase all efforts to challenge Israeli policies of occupation and apartheid. We are certain that this ban will undermine its intended goal of covering up Israeli crimes against Palestinians and will help galvanize public opinion for freedom and justice in Palestine. We remain committed to using the BDS nonviolent tactic to reveal corporate complicity in Palestinian human rights violations.

CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin spoke out in response to the blacklist: “It’s outrageous that Israel would ban human rights activists who support a Gandhi-like boycott campaign that has historically been the bedrock of nonviolent social change movements. And some people still call Israel a democracy and justify giving it billions of our tax dollars? Enough.”

CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans said, “Israel is obviously threatened by groups like CODEPINK that stand up for the rights of the oppressed. Our efforts to expose the plight of the Palestine people makes us criminals in the eyes of the Israeli government, but only makes us more determined who show who the real criminals are.”…

—

In 2015, Code Pink activists traveled to Israel where they protested against Israel at the Western Wall.

JERUSALEM – On Tuesday, November 10, 2015 at 11:30 am, Jewish Americans CODEPINK activists, Ariel Gold, of Ithaca, NY and Ariel Vegosen, of Oakland, CA, unfurled a banner near the Kotel (Western Wall) reading, “American Jews support BDS.” Representing the women’s peace organization, Code Pink, the activists goal was to express Jewish opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement as a nonviolent strategy to bring about a just peace in Palestine and Israel.

Gold and Vegosen were in Israel/Palestine for a week long CODEPINK delegation to the West Bank to participate in the Palestinian olive harvest…”

Code Pink’s Ariel Vegosen protesting at the Western Wall.

Images of Code Pink’s Ariel Gold and Ariel Vegosen protesting at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2015 via IsraellyCool.

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